"We have to come back anyway. There is no one who can talk me into or out of a pair of pants better than you." She meant that with all the love in her heart. Astrid made a good fashion sounding board as well, but her parents being who they were... sometimes it was hard. That girl just got everything she wanted.

So, did she see that?

"Where?" Cait's pointing was only helping so much. Raine could feel the tension coiling up in side of her. They were doing this. Raine gripped Cait's arm tight and tighter! They were really doing this!

"Oh. Wait." What Raine had been watching was a man in a suit, but he was fetching some flowers from his car. Was that... "I think somebody's getting asked to prom." So. That was exciting and all, but not their creeper.

"Look. I got a picture. That's good right? We still did well..." It wasn't like Impact expected them to drag him to the hospital, did she?

Or... did she?

"Were we supposed to beat a guy up today?" Raine whispered conspiratorially because that wasn't the kind of thing somebody just said like out loud. It was entirely possible she hadn't been paying close enough attention at the briefing.

Prom? Aw that was so sweet. And disappointing. Why couldn't the sweet man with the flowers be their weird phone guy. Well, maybe they had been over reacting to everything but she could have sworn something felt off about that guy. Sighing, she guessed it just wasn't meant to be.

At least Raine had a point, a picture was better than nothing and they'd not had much information to work with in the beginning. Maybe their lecture would only be ten minutes this time.

"I don't think so," she paused and considered Impacts' working methods. "Well, maybe she did actually. She's a bit on the ask questions later side of things." There were many, many reasons Cait was still a little bit afraid of her, even after so many years working together.

She was at a bit of a loss now, they'd lost their only lead, it was boiling hot and Raine still had her arm in a death grip. "Should we just go back inside then? Maybe those jeans will still be there." Maybe some retail therapy would help.

What else was there to do?

"We could beat up somebody else?" No. That wasn't right.

Cait wanted to go inside, but it didn't feel like they'd put in enough oomph. She murmured a sorry as soon as she realized she was man handling Cait's arm. Cait was not who she'd meant to beat up!

"Nooo. If we give up now it'd be like... it'd be like giving up! We just have to think scummier. If you were a creep, where would you creep?" Or, you know, they could just hang out and talk in the parking lot. It was surveillance. They may have wanted to find the guy right away, but they probably shouldn't have expected it. Not on their absolute first try.

So. Continued surveillance meant... "Let's walk?" They could walk. And talk. That was surveillance of the parking lot. "Let's walk" She decided. And they walked.

"Did you go to prom?"

As much as she hated spend more time in this sweat box, Raine was right, they couldn't give up so easily. Winter could not come soon enough for her.

Hmm, if she was a creepy man, taking pictures of kids, where would she hide? "Maybe towards the back, where there's less people and less cameras? If I wanted to do some nefarious business, I'd want fewer witness's." 

Walking would help, they could keep an eye out, look out for trouble makers and if they found an errant breeze? Heaven. "Onwards then," she exclaimed what she hoped was heroically, "To foil evil, and stuff."

"Oh god yes, prom was a thing my mum got obsessed over when we moved here, I couldn't get away with skipping it. We did everything just like the movies, dress shopping, trawling for shoes, the talk." Not that she'd needed it, she already been friendly with more than one partner by that point.

It had been fun though and she was glad she'd gone. "Me and a friend went together, her boyfriend had broken up with her two weeks before the dance and I was going alone so," shrugging she didn't really need to finish the sentence. "Turned out to be a great idea. We had so much fun, danced to all the corny music and by the end I didn't have to deal with a horny boy trying to get me out of my dress." No, instead she and her friend had finished the night making out. That had been a bit of a revelation to Cait. A very, very pleasant one.

"How about you? I can't imagine you had any problems getting cuties to ask you." She was being earnest when she said it, Raine was so beautiful, who wouldn't want to go with her?

Raine snapped and pointed at Cait. "Good idea!" They circled back toward the mall and followed the wall toward the less than public facing side of things.

As they walked, they talked. Cait's prom experience sounded remarkably better than Raine's, but she could make hers sound just fine if she wanted to impress. "I went to two proms, actually. One was like yours. Just a friend. We danced our a**es off and tempted some guys away from their dates." True story. Only, she'd gotten scared and ditched her date before he'd had a chance to touch her dress' zipper. She omitted that part on purpose, wanting to sound more worldly.

"I actually almost didn't go to my own prom." Raine shrugged. She had been scheduled to work that night, but when her boss heard she was missing prom to be there, she'd insisted Raine get herself there ASAP and make the most of her youth... or something to that effect. "Didn't have a dress or a date or anything. I ended up going in one of my old ballet costumes and rocked it anyway. Black tulle? It was practically a prom dress anyway and way more maneuverable." She didn't have the heart to ask for something from her dad who'd sacrificed so much to get her through high school.

She smiled a mixed expression. "It actually turned out to be pretty lame." She'd gotten there late, more into the slow dancing period of things. Most everyone was paired off, some already gone to hook up before she'd even gotten there. "I ended up playing cards with the nerds in the stairwell." She shrugged apologetically.

"That's kinda lame, huh?" At least her first prom had sounded pretty hot. Raine scanned the area as the cars became further and further apart. It might be away from prying eyes, but there sure wasn't a lot to hide behind.

She had to endure two proms? Christ, hers had only been salvaged towards the end. Before that it was just dancing to weird song choices in a small, sweaty gym. Cait still didn't understand the obsession with prom, especially the dresses. Her mother had freaked out when she'd suggested not going and had spent four weeks guilting her into going. Now it just sat in the back of her wardrobe, still the only dress she owned.

"I was tempted to do that at the time but considering how it ended, I'm so glad I didn't." Smiling at the memory, it was the one redeeming feature about proms. "I got into much more fun with the pretty girl I was already dancing with."

She just nodded as if she knew what a tulle was or if it looked good. All she thought was if Raine was wearing it, it probably looked beautiful. But the idea of spending prom chilling, playing games with some friends was so cool. That would have been such a great way to spend hers. "Lame, are you kidding me? That sounds awesome, I wish I'd done that instead of dancing in front of a bunch of leering boys." Being in a dress made her feel so, exposed. Give her a nice pair of skin tight jeans and she was fine.

Getting deeper and deeper into the car park was giving her an uneasy feeling. Knowing that there was no cameras watching actually made it worse, made her realise just how alone they both were. "Do you have your mask on hand? We might need them quick if trouble hits." She'd kept her voice low, trying to make sure it didn't carry far.

Sounds of movement behind them made Cait spin so fast she nearly knocked over her friend. Weird, she thought, there was nothing there, at all. No cars, no people no cameras. Urgently whispering as low as she could, "Raine, have you ever gotten the feeling you'be walked into a trap."

"Ugh. Girls are way more fun anyway." Raine was pretty sure her prom would have been better if it had ended with nail polish, dark chocolate, and a horror flick like Cait's probably had. Though something about the way Cait had said 'got into more fun' made Raine think that maybe it had been a little more than just that. They hadn't exactly had the 'which ways do you swing?' chat yet, but Raine was picking up a few hints that Cait may or may not have been dropping on purpose.

She wasn't quite sure what to do with them either. It wasn't like she had much experience despite what she let on. The thoughts were... distracting.

Cait elbowed Raine out of her reverie. Something about her mask? "Huh? Oh. Yeah. I got it right—" WHAT WAS THAT!? Raine and Cait both spun and stood back to back like they'd been trained to do in the painting Impact bought, except that Cait hip-checked Raine and she nearly overbalanced and ate asphalt. But she didn't. And she was way glad there were no cameras.

"Did you see that?" She wasn't sure what that was.

Weirdly enough, there was nothing at all. At least, nothing immediately obvious.

> "Raine, have you ever gotten the feeling you'be walked into a trap."

"Masks on." She went for the inner pocket of her bag, one zipper and one flap away. She slapped her mask on and adjusted the height of her ponytail from casual mode to extra cheerful. "Did we wander into a pocket realm? Or is Macy's just that unpopular?" It was the back of the Macy's, judging from the dumpsters and the broken down packaging. The back side where it butt up against the back end of an empty store that had both "Closed for Renovations" and "For Rent" signs taped to the employee entrance.

Ohh! <3 If she got to move from the dorm to her sorority house, she was totes gonna come steal some boxes from here.

Raine squinted through her mask at the back door of the closed store. Was that door open just a little?

Nodding at the suggestion, she quickly pulled her own mask from bag and put it on. Quickly tightening her clothes and button up her shirt, even with the heat, she finished by pulling her ponytail into the back of her t-shirt.

Frowning at Raines words, she had to agree something was wrong. What kind of building site was this silent in the middle of the day? "Yeah this is a bit too weird, even for New York." Everything about this was ringing alarm bells in her head, phantom noises aside.Impact had always taught them to trust their instincts and Cait were going haywire. Maybe Impact's tip off had been right, there was definitely something going on here. The question was, what?

Following Raines eyes she saw the open door as well. Considering how seedy this car park looked, and the area they were in, an open door on the back of a shop was all sorts of wrong. Keeping an eye behind her, she nodded to her companion and slowly moved towards the door, readying a knife if things got hairy.

Well, she'd wanted action. Kind of.

Peeking through the door, she saw their creep, talking to someone. Well, at least they'd been right about this guy, he'd definitely been up to no good. Rather than risk making a noise she pulled out her phone to text.

Only one in sight, can't see who he's with but he's talking to someone.

"No! Don't-!" Rained hissed the words after Cait, but she was already going in. _{"THIS WAS HOW PEOPLE GET MURDERED!"}

She bounced on the balls of her feet as she fretted just outside the ajar door. She had to go in. She had to back up Cait. It was a bad idea, but she had to do it.

Raine pulled open the door as quietly as she could and that's when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She was so, so glad she'd changed her phone to silent otherwise it would have started blasting Taytay. As much as Taylor Swift deserved her devotion, now was so not the time.

She thumbed out her reply and stood with one hand on the door, just able to see Cait's back as she sent 3 messages back to back to back.

Take pictures!!!!

If they see you, I will get us out.

Remember this is intel, not stab mission ✨✨✨

Cait was so glad she'd learned early on to keep her phone on silent. That mistake had only been made once while on a mission. Unfortunately it had been a mission with Becca, who made her displeasure known very loudly and at length. The swearing had been impressively ear burning.

Good call, will do. Cover my back?

Snapping pictures of the creeper talking, she just couldn't get the angle to see his hidden contact, and this far away she hadn't a hope of hearing the whispered conversation. Looking back at her anxious friend, she tried to get an idea of what her sight line would be from there. Getting a little closer, even for one picture of the other person wouldn't be safe if she lost sight of her partner.

Think I can get further round without being seen? The boss would probably be grateful for even a little bit more info.

Moving without knowing if Raine was with her was a really bad idea. They were a team on this and if she wasn't cool with upping the risk, Cait would absolutely agree. Becca would much rather they came home with nothing, than them getting hurt unnecessarily. She did want to try though. When she put her mind to it, she could be pretty sneaky. At high-school she'd gotten the nickname hug ninja, for how often she would sneak attack her friends with affection. Recent training had only made her better at it.

Returning her attention to the scene behind her, she was instantly on edge. Nothing had changed, yet every instinct she had was screaming at her. Something was about to happen.

Something big.

Raine didn't trust her own ninja stalker skills, but she did believe in Cait. After all, that was the story of how she'd joined the team, right? It was good that Shivs was on point. Raine gave herself a mental high five for that pun. She wouldn't be able to stand the building tension otherwise.

I got you boo!

You are a ninja. Channel the stalker within.

You got this! I'm here for you!

It occurred to Raine belatedly that her constant flurry of texts were probably distracting. She left the cheer leading off and got a tether ready in her hand, tossing one end to Cait and holding the other end ready.

I got you on lock for a speedy exit. Ready when you are

She would move only if she thought her tether was slipping or she lost sight of Shivs. Otherwise, Zero considered herself on door duty.

Frowning at Raines flurry of texts, she wondered when that nickname would finally go away. So she had gotten a little bit obsessed with the X-Men and had maybe done what could be describe as 'stalking' them but she hadn't meant any harm from it. She had just admired them so much, and with her own discovery of her powers, it had just seemed so logical to try and join them.

Sighing and realising she was probably going to be the teams resident stalker for at least a few more years, she focused back on the task at hand. Giving Raine a thumbs up and keeping her eyes firmly planted her target, she started to slowly move up. This she could do. All the training she had gotten and her natural balance and poise helped her move silently forward and around the man. She might be stuck with the nickname, but right now she was glad at how appropriate it was.

OK I think I can get an angle. You see those crates to my left? If I get to them I can snap images. 

The only problem she had was to get to them she needed to cross about 10 feet of open space. Not even her honed ninja skills could make that unnoticeable.

Any ideas? I need a distraction and I can't see anything behind them.

Any ideas? Sure, but none of them good.

Could she project her voice like a ventriloquist? No.
Could she find a kitty cat noise on her phone and send it to the other side of the room? Yeah, but then how would she get it back?
Could she zero G one of them or one of their phones? Yeah, but floating was arguably MORE suspicious.

Zero checked the area around her feet and picked up a loose screw and washer set. She pulled them apart, checked their weight in her hand, and then chucked them over the set of boxes she was hiding behind.

The sailed in a beautiful arc up toward the ceiling, just barely missing hitting that, and then clanked loudly on the other side of the space.

Zero's eyebrows did the talking after that. Gogogo!

When all of this was over, Raine was getting so many hugs. That throw had been beautiful. Whatever is was she had chucked across the room had arced just right to come down on the opposite side of their creeper. It was just too perfect. The guy turned quickly towards the noise and Cait took her chance, hoping that whoever he was talking too had done the same.

Silently dashing across the distance she made it to the boxes. It hadn't taken long but even a glimpse and they were made. She could only hope her stalking skills were up to the task.

Am I safe?? Did they see me?

Well, no shouts were happening or weird alarms went off. She'd actually done it! Once word got out she was never getting rid of her stalker nickname.

Oh yeah! Who's the best Scottish ninja you know?

Now she just needed to snap a few pictures of the second person and they could bug out. Peeking out, she could see them both. Damn, their creepier was meeting with a babe. She was gorgeous. Cait would happily get her picture.

She took her hand off the doorway in order to dance and dance and dance and quick little celebration. Scottish ninja skills were nothing to sneeze at. She resumed holding the door before it shut, keeping just her fingers between the doorway and the door so that no light tipped the bad guys off.

Flash off! PIIIIIICTURES 🤳📷

Her ears strained to hear something from the whispering baddies. They seemed worried about the dropping sound of the screw, but this was a worksite. They mentioned something about intelligence. Something about finishing up quickly and that it was getting harder and harder to ignore the X nerds.

X-nerds.

Like... X-men?